Affordable housing getting closer

LAKE ELSINORE —— The city can take another significant step
tonight toward finally building some affordable housing.

In a 7 p.m. meeting at the Cultural Center, 183 N. Main St., the
City Council is expected to decide on a new developer fee that
would bring in millions of dollars the city could spend on a wide
range of housing deemed affordable to low- and moderate-income
households.

According to city officials, the fee would be a temporary means
by which Lake Elsinore could collect funds for such projects until
it adopts a new ordinance early next year to more completely
address affordable housing needs.

Lake Elsinore has struggled in recent years to keep up with the
state mandate that cities have to make sure a certain percentage of
new housing is affordable to families defined as low- to
moderate-income by the state.

A big part of the problem in Lake Elsinore has been that the
city's redevelopment agency has been in precarious financial
standing. The agency is a legally distinct arm of the city that
uses a portion of property tax revenues to finance improvements in
blighted neighborhoods.

Per state regulations, the agency is supposed to make sure that
15 percent of the housing in redevelopment areas is affordable. The
agency has gotten out of meeting that obligation by arguing that
the city's stock of older homes provides plenty of affordable
housing options.

Instead of banking the property tax money, the agency has used
it to pay off bond debt related to the construction in 1994 of The
Diamond baseball stadium.

That tight fiscal situation is turning around, city officials
said Monday.

In May, finance officials announced the city would no longer
need to borrow from its affordable housing fund. They also said the
city soon would begin paying back the more than $14.2 million it
will owe the fund by June of next year.

That improved situation, coupled with the new fee, will help
build momentum toward the eventual construction of affordable
housing projects, the officials said.

The city doesn't have any specific projects on the table right
now, city spokesman Mark Dennis said, but the new fee would help
position the redevelopment agency to start considering its
options.

"This gets us a lot closer to making things happen," he
said.

If approved, the fee will be assessed on developers whose
projects are being built in the city's three redevelopment areas.
Developers are required to price 15 percent of the houses or
apartments they build in those areas for families with low- to
moderate-incomes, but can opt out of that obligation by paying
"in-lieu fees," which the city can then use to build affordable
housing.

For years, the city's practice has been to negotiate with the
developers on how much they would be paying in fees. The fee going
in front of the council would set a standard rate.

According to a staff report, homes built as part of projects
already approved by the city would be assessed a $2-per-square-foot
fee. Those approved after today would be assessed a
$3.50-per-square-foot fee, the report states.